Eastern Cape schools scramble for water and books as state goes silent
No help from education department as new academic year looms
11 February 2021 - 11:24
By Gugu Phandle
Image: MICHAEL PINYANA Education MEC Fundile Gade is expected to address parliament's standing committee on the Eastern Cape's state of readiness on Thursday. File photo.
Eastern Cape schools are going to extreme lengths to be ready for the reopening of schools on Monday because they have received little to no assistance from the provincial education department.
Fears over a lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) have been realised, despite the department backtracking on an earlier announcement that schools would be expected to procure their own PPE in the first term.
Some representatives DispatchLIVE spoke to on Wednesday said their schools not only had to pay for their own PPE, but for water as well. They said they had done all they could to ensure a safe learning and teaching environment on Monday. But they questioned whether it was enough.
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